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Book Review: Dungeons and Dragon Dating by Virginia McClain

February 5, 2025 by Andy Peloquin Leave a Comment

Rating: 8.5/10

TL;DR Review: Legends and Lattes goes on an adventure disguised as a dating game. Lovely, heartwarming, satisfying queer cozy romance I adored.

Synopsis:

WHAT KIND OF DRAGON SENDS A BLIND DATE TO A CURSED FOREST?!

Quiet café owner Lyra Stranglevine knows that she’s too broken for romance. So, she never expected to wind up killing zombified bugbears with her Great Gram’s favorite sewing machine on a first date. And especially not with an adventure-hardened battle mage. Even if she is distractingly gorgeous…

Fire mage Kiara Mefysta DOES NOT date—no one deserves to have a partner who risks her life on a regular basis—and no “love dragon” matchmaking service is going to change that. But the curvy café owner who keeps descending from cursed vines like a sylvan goddess is seriously testing Kiara’s resolve…

One thing Kiara and Lyra both agree on, though, is having words with the tiny purple and green dragon who trapped them in this cursed forest to begin with. If they survive, that is.

Full Review:

Dungeons and Dragon Dating is a short, quick, beautifully compelling read.

From the beginning, I was instantly drawn to our two main characters:

Kiara, the badass battle mage who has shunned the idea of romance because an ex broke her heart too badly. She’s only taking part in this sham of a dating idea because she owes it to the healer she nearly turned to a crisp with a fireball. Snarky, competent, headstrong, and very cynical, she’s the hard-edged warrior who you just know has a gooey soft interior.

Lyla, the hearth witch and café owner who gets drawn into the scheme because she needs money, and she can’t recommend the magical dating simulation to her clients unless she can stand by it. She’s soft on the outside, gentle and kind, but inside her there is the spark of strength and courage that will be fanned to roaring flames by the adventure.

These two are meant to be together, that much is clear from the beginning. After all, the love dragon’s magic knows they’re the ideal match. They just need to get past their hangups, baggage, and fears to see it. Oh, and there’s also the zombie bugbears and magic-drinking spiders that are trying to kill them. No big deal, right?

The action is a lot of fun, and the pacing of this story keeps things moving from scene to scene at a really good clip. But it’s the slower moments of developing the characters and the dynamic between them that really shine.

This is a no-spice story that has just the right amount of steam for anyone looking to dip their toes into the romantasy waters. The layers of romance and attraction are done right and keep drawing you into these characters’ story the way you would a good rom-com. It’s fun, funny, and beautifully entertaining.

For those who enjoy queer characters, you get all colors and varieties, and the representation in this book is done so well that it becomes an added spice and flavoring that I enjoyed.

Best of all, there’s more to come! As we see by the end, this story sets up a bigger, darker, deeper, adventure that I can’t wait to watch unfold through the future romances and magical dating dungeon quests in the series.

If you liked Legends and Lattes, you’ll adore Dungeons and Dragon Dating!

Filed Under: Adventure Fantasy, Cozy Fantasy, Romantic Fantasy Tagged With: Book Review, Books, Cozy Fantasy, Fantasy, Fantasy Books, Romantasy, Self Published

About Andy Peloquin

I am, first and foremost, a storyteller and an artist--words are my palette. Fantasy and science fiction are my genres of choice, and I love to explore the darker side of human nature through the filter of heroes, villains, and everything in between. I'm also a freelance writer, a book lover, and a guy who just loves to meet new people and spend hours talking about my fascination for the worlds I encounter in the pages of fantasy and sci-fi novels.
Speculative fiction provides us with an escape, a way to forget about our mundane problems and step into worlds where anything is possible. It transcends age, gender, religion, race, or lifestyle--it is our way of believing what cannot be, delving into the unknowable, and discovering hidden truths about ourselves and our world in a brand-new way. Fiction at its very best!

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